10:24 PM
Lanee' Blunt
By
Lanee’ Blunt
 |
| Write a collection letter-- mihow |
Consultants
shy away from using collection letters. When someone owes you money for your service
business and doesn’t want to pay in response of your regular billing, then you
may begin writing letters of notification. The first stage in the collection
process for your service business is a letter of notification. In most cases, a
client will give you no trouble in making a payment, but occasionally they
won’t pay and you should send a collection letter.
Collection
letters are not just for large corporations, if it is written correctly, it
will be to your advantage to use. Send copies of past bills. You can start in
the early stages of the process by sending repeated bills to the client. On the bills stamp reminder to indicate that
you are giving them the opportunity to pay you. Write a polite letter urging
the recipient to make payment on the outstanding bill.
Start
the collection letter with a double space under the salutation. In this paragraph list the overdue balance
that is owed to you, the date, and invoice number. Write that you have not
received payment for services that you performed. The most common request is
that the client has lost the invoice.
Start
your second paragraph double space in between the first paragraph informing the
client in a respectful tone assuming there has been some mistake resulting from
lack of payment. For example, “I felt sure that your payment would be here by
now. Please send the payment by mail so that you can continue to receive the consulting
services you’ve been receiving.” The letter should not sound too harsh because
there is another stage of “severity of letters” that follows the notification
letter.
Close
the letter. With a friendly but firm tone that the payment should be mailed
before you can continue any future work for the client. If the payment has
already been mailed please ignore the letter.
Reference:
Accounting
Best Practices; Steven M. Bragg, 2010
Posted in: Business services
